Punctured wounds are made with a pointed instrument, and distinguished for their depth rather than breadth.
Contused wounds are those produced by bruises.
Lacerated wounds are those in which the flesh is torn and mangled.
Poisoned wounds are made with a poisoned instrument, or by some poisonous reptile or insect or rabid animal.
In all cases of wounds, the immediate danger is in the shock produced upon the nervous system, and in the liability to hemorrhage.
Shock. If severe, the shock is attended with symptoms of extreme prostration, such as a feeble pulse, shivering, partial unconsciousness, fainting, hiccough, vomiting, and involuntary discharges of the urine and feces.
Treatment of Shock. The clothing should be loosened immediately after the accident, so that the blood may have free circulation, and the patient should be kept in a recumbent position. He should have plenty of fresh air. Camphor or ammonia may be inhaled. If he can swallow, stimulants may be given, as whiskey or brandy, but with care that they do not run into the trachea, or windpipe. If he be unable to swallow, they may be administered as injections, but should gradually be discontinued as reaction takes place. A warm pillow placed at the back and the use of electricity may be beneficial.
Hemorrhage, or bleeding, may generally be controlled by a compress, tourniquet, flexion of the joint, or styptics. A compress consists of several folds of cloth laid upon a wound, the edges of which have been brought together, and made secure by a moderately tight bandage.